The second volume, the surging wind, the fifth section, the defeat of Gangu
Luo Yu's movable type printing technology finally made progress. After more than a dozen experiments with three engraving masters in Kunshan, they discovered that the problem was with the ink.
Kunshan asked Luo Yu to do other things, as long as they are here. The people buying paper and books outside will be back soon. If you have nothing to do, go and pick them up.
After hearing this, the Luo family was a little confused. This was because they were being disliked. People who have seen high-tech cars, airplanes, rockets, etc. were actually disliked by these bumpkin. They were really speechless.
However, they are right. How to improve ink is a layman's job, so let's leave it to the masters.
Okay, take your time with it. The frame of the monocular telescope has been made and the lens has been polished. Let’s try assembling it. Having this thing will bring a lot of convenience in the future.
A total of eight concave and convex mirrors were polished from the crystal. The remaining materials were used by Li Xiuning and Yang Man to make a tall crystal cup. Some flowers and plants were carved on the cup. They poured wine with ice in the sun, and the entire cup was covered with water.
Reflected in red, it is very beautiful.
The two of them couldn't put it down since they got it, and they carried it with them everywhere as if it were some kind of treasure.
At this time, glass had been brought from the Western Regions through Hu merchants, but most of it was in the shape of containers, and the price was higher than gold. A glass container the size of a teapot was sold for 5,000 yuan, which is equivalent to a small town selling a month's worth of glass.
tax collected.
Therefore, it is impossible for a non-rich family to own it. Luo Yu has always wanted to burn glass to get some money to spend. Unfortunately, the timing is not right. Who would have the heart to buy these luxury goods until this battle is over.
If you think too far, let's go back to Father Li's house to assemble the telescope. Before the Tang Dynasty unified the country, there was no need to worry about those things.
I don't know what happened to Li Yuan and his son. According to historical calculations that Luo Yu knew, Li Yuan may have taken over Chang'an at this time, but the war situation across the country changed three times a day. Everyone here deliberately avoided talking about outside matters, which left Luo Yu.
Yu's eyes turned black.
Although Li Xiuning never asked about the Li family and his son, Luo Yu knew that she must always be concerned about him, which made Luo Yu feel a little sorry.
When he promised Li Yuan to take Li Xiuning away from the battlefield, he had to do it. What's more, someone in the special operations team would report the situation here to Li Yuan. When he really needed help, he would send someone to ask them to come out.
Once you have figured it out, you will no longer be entangled. With the abilities of Li Yuan and his son, there seems to be no one here who can be their opponent. Just sit back and watch.
Li Shimin's more than 6,000 cavalrymen have entered the official road for four or five miles. There are high mountains on both sides. Although the terrain in the remaining Qinling Mountains is not as steep as the main peak, it is not something ordinary people can climb up.
In order to build this narrow troop transportation road, Yang Guang did not know how many resources he used. It took three years to build it, and the total length was only sixty or seventy miles.
Six or seven miles further ahead we will reach the valley where Xue Li and others ambush. There is little rain here and the official road is very dry. I want to look for traces of Xue Ju's retreat, but there are no clues.
Li Shimin had an uneasy feeling in his heart. Is the valley in Cuiyi Mountain really suitable for an ambush? He had not seen it in person, but he just assumed that the valley would be a place for an ambush.
This was similar to Zhao Kuo's paper talk. Li Shimin turned his head and glanced at Liu Hongji. Seeing that he was also uneasy, he asked: "You feel it too?"
Liu Hongji said: "My subordinates always feel that Xue Ju will not retreat back to Lanzhou so easily, but I really can't think of where he can go except to the west. General, the terrain here is not suitable for an ambush. Let's get to the valley first.
.”
Li Shimin closed his eyes and thought for a while. Just as he was waiting for an order, a special forces team member who was exploring the way forward flew to Li Shimin's horse. After saluting, he said: "General, Colonel Xue is on standby in the valley.
I led my men to explore this mountain road and found no trace of the enemy."
After hearing this, Li Shimin said: "Send the order, speed up, and rush to the valley to meet Xue Li as soon as possible."
At the military order, thousands of horsemen accelerated forward at the same time. The sound of horse hooves resounded through the sky and shook the earth.
There was no ambush in the valley, which only proved that Xue Ju had left the narrow official road and retreated towards Gangu County.
The situation changed and Xue Ju retreated quickly. It is unclear why he did not set up an ambush on the road. This old fox's use of troops is really confusing.
Li Shimin came to the huge open space, which was dug during road construction. It should have been the residence of migrant workers at that time. The entire open space formed a huge semicircle, located on the right side of the official road.
Only when he saw that there were only sporadic weeds sprouting from the cracks in the open space and no other cover at all, did Li Shimin understand why Xue Ju had to retreat in such a hurry.
Xue Li reported: "General, something unexpected happened, what should we do next?"
Li Shimin said: "Talk about war on paper and kill people. From now on, you must see the terrain on the march and have a clear idea before you can formulate a military strategy. I blame it this time for thinking too simplistically."
Xue Li bowed to accept the promise, sweating on his forehead. This time he really took it for granted. There was another more important thing that he failed to consider. Xue Ju came from this road, so he naturally knew about this open space, but he didn't
I want to ambush you here.
That is to say, there is no way to ambush here. If conditions exist, we still don’t know who is ambushing whom.
Li Shimin looked at the sunlight shining slantingly on the open space and asked: "Where is the official road ahead?"
Xue Li said: "Five miles ahead from the official road, there is a small town called Wujiahe. I will personally take people there to explore the terrain."
Li Shimin pondered for a moment and then said: "Remember, carefully search all places where ambushes can be found. Don't be careless. You can bring thirty scouts there with you. Be careful and go back as soon as possible!"
Xue Li took the order, turned around, picked up thirty horses and galloped away.
Li Shimin now feels trapped between a rock and a hard place. The lag in intelligence makes it difficult to make the right decision. If he returns to Qinzhou, he will not be able to fight Xue Ju. The crisis in Qinzhou will always exist.
What's more, the outer city wall had been blown down. The patrol team they stayed behind saw with their own eyes the location of the collapse. Although it could be repaired, the strength was not the same as before.
Chasing Xue Ju is not a good choice, at least it is not a good opportunity now. The difference in troop strength is too big. If you follow up rashly, you may end up being surrounded by Xue Ju.
Longtan and tiger's den are difficult to break into. Let's hope Xue Li can bring good news. Li Shimin is still inclined to pursue. He is very confident in gunpowder bombs. Only by defeating Xue Ju in a battle and eliminating about 60% of his troops can Qinzhou be temporarily safe.
As for how the situation will develop in the future, no one can predict it. The Longyou Road in the northwest is connected to the Western Turks in the north. They will often raise troops to go south in winter, and Xue Ju will be under great pressure.
The wait is always long. An hour passed and the sun rose very high. Then I saw Xue Li coming on horseback alone. Looking at his face, it seemed that he had made an unexpected discovery.
Sure enough, he came to Li Shimin, dismounted and replied: "General, after my subordinates came out of the valley and searched for seven or eight miles, they found the enemy's whereabouts. There were about seven or eight thousand men and horses ambushing in the dense forest of Panwan.
After searching for more than ten miles in the direction of Gangu, no other traces of the enemy were found."
Li Shimin stood up and said to Liu Hongji: "What do you think?"
Liu Hongji thought for a while and said: "It is reasonable for these seven or eight thousand people to stay in the dense forest to ambush the enemy, but there is another possibility that these people are bait, waiting for us to pounce on them before they surround us."
Li Shimin asked Xue Li again: "Is their hiding place easy to be discovered?"
Xue Li said: "It's about two miles away from the official road. It's a large pine forest. It took my subordinates a long time to find their hiding place. It doesn't seem like they were exposed on purpose."
After hearing this, Li Shimin walked back and forth a few steps and asked, "Are there any other ambush places nearby?"
Xue Li replied: "After discovering them, my subordinates searched along the Zhenguan Road to the edge of Gangu County, but did not find them. As for the ambush place, I can only guarantee that there are no places that I have seen."
After hearing this, Li Shimin thought: "Sooner or later, we will have a battle with Xue Ju and his son. Although it is not a good time now, with the help of gunpowder bombs, we should be able to make up for the gap in strength. Even if they surround us, they want to blow up an escape route."
It's difficult, this battle must be fought, the country is getting more and more chaotic, we can't stay here passively waiting for Xue Ju to attack the city."
It is difficult to achieve anything by being indecisive. Act when you think about it. Li Shimin stood still and ordered: "Send the order, each of the cavalry will be given three gunpowder shells. All mount their horses and follow me to attack. If you encounter the enemy, you do not need to ask for instructions. There are hundreds of people in one."
The troops threw gunpowder bombs one after another, and the infantry retreated back to Qinzhou, under the command of General Yin, to repair the collapsed city wall. If this battle fails, it will be a disaster."
Luo Yu looked at the installed monocular telescope. He picked it up with some anxiety and put it to his right eye to try. He closed his left eye and the effect was good. He could see blurry things one mile away.
I stretched out my hand to adjust the rotating drum. After the focus changed, the scenery became very clear, and I could see further away.
The carpenter in the village was really good at his craftsmanship. Luo Yu just took a look at the drawings and he assured him that he could finish it in just one day. However, within half a day, Luo Yu was sent four sockets.
, it can be telescoped and rotated. Luo Yu was very satisfied and agreed to treat him to a drink in the evening.
The people in the village are very simple, and many of them are craftsmen, carpenters, bricklayers, chefs, etc. However, the two carvers, who did not know Chinese characters, were able to carve very attractive printed characters, which amazed Luo Yu.
Endless.
After the four telescopes were assembled and the focus was adjusted, they walked slowly to the classroom. How to distribute the telescopes was a problem.
The three daughters of Li Xiuning are all here in the school. The blackboard and chalk have already been prepared, and more than 30 sets of desks and chairs have been delivered. Zhang Yang and the others are very busy now, so they need to reward one.
A Li wiped the desk obediently. She was a hunter and had to reward one. Yang Man decided not to give it to her for the time being. She kept one for herself and gave the other to Kunshan.
If I had known it could be so simple, I should have used all the remaining ingredients instead of making cups.
However, there are plenty of crystals, so just do it when the time comes. The most important thing is that Li Xiuning is happy.
It's comfortable. It's a really good life. There's nothing wrong with living like this for the rest of your life.
I seem to have forgotten that I promised Li Xiuning to take her to travel around the southeast, northwest and northwest. This is a promise and must be kept.
Think about it, there are still a lot of things that have not been done, and little people have a lot of troubles. As a human being, joy and sorrow will always accompany you throughout your life.
Li Shimin's spear passed through the neck of one of Xue Ju's ambush soldiers. Blood spurted out and splashed all over him. Before he could smell the blood, another rider came in front and smashed his mace on his head...
This cavalry of more than 2,000 riders was completely desperate. After Li Shimin left the narrow official road, they suddenly fought out of the dense forest nearby.
The unexpected attack caught Li Shimin off guard. How could there be an ambush here? Did they just come here? More than 2,000 war horses have to pass through the dense forest. It cannot be done in a short time.
Xue Li and Liu Hongji flew forward, spears in their hands thrust out like snakes spitting messages. The enemy soldier did not care and tried his best to smash Li Shimin's head.
The knight behind him was stunned for a moment, then quickly rode forward, and strangled the enemy soldiers who were rushing towards him.
In fact, this place is not very open. There are dense forests on both sides of the official road. I don't know how they came here with men and horses to ambush here.
The mace whizzed down, and Li Shimin's spear pierced his throat faster than him, and after pulling it out, he flew the mace away.
More cavalry rushed out, and the battle became more cruel and merciless. People on both sides kept screaming and falling down. The horses screamed and fled in all directions. They were blocked by the fiercely beaten sergeants. They had to run back and forth in a mess.
There were also shouts of killing from the other side. This time it was not the cavalry, but the hand holding a thick gray rope with a curved sickle tied to the end of the rope. At a glance, there were at least two hundred people lined up.
, they threw the rope in their hands with all their strength, and the sickle fell on the official road.
When Li Shimin saw it, he thought to himself that it was not good. If the sickle was pulled back, the horse's leg would definitely be broken. It was such a poisonous method.
Xue Li was the first to react, and when they were about to throw the rope, he lit a gunpowder bomb and threw it.
There was a loud noise and screams could not be heard. Although dozens of people were killed and injured, more than a hundred people still yanked back the rope.
As you can imagine, the sickle flew off the ground under the violent drag, and the legs of dozens of war horses were scratched and cut off. For a while, chaos arose...
More gunpowder bombs were thrown at the crowds on both sides. The sound of the explosion echoed across the sky and the earth. Broken limbs and broken arms flew everywhere with heart-rending screams. It was nothing more than the Shura Field in Hell.
Another cavalry group came in front. Li Shimin knew that defeat was a foregone conclusion, so he stopped struggling and ordered the retreating troops to take advantage of the explosion of gunpowder bombs. Xue Li tried his best to throw a gunpowder bomb forward and then pulled his horse back.
Go to the exit of the official road and organize the cavalry behind to retreat.
The injured knights fell off their horses, knowing that there was no chance of survival. After lighting the gunpowder bombs on their bodies, they looked at Li Shimin shouting "Quickly!" and rushed forward to face the enemy...
Li Shimin's eyes were filled with tears. Liu Hongji wanted to ride his horse to rescue him, but was held back by Li Shimin. These brothers sacrificed themselves to prevent the enemy from coming over in exchange for the safety of their comrades behind them. If they did not retreat, their deaths would have been in vain.
Hundreds of gunpowder bombs exploded, but Li Shimin could no longer see their tragic and majestic figures. After all the people outside retreated to the official road with cliffs on both sides, Xue Li had already lit twenty or thirty gunpowder bombs and tied them together.
The super bomb...
In the first battle against Xue Ju, he was defeated. He was completely defeated without even seeing Xue Ju's face.
(It will be on the shelves at the end of the month. To be honest, I really don’t have much confidence that many friends will subscribe. However, I have to give it a try. I am very happy to be on the shelves. I would like to thank all readers for taking the time to take a look at it. Enjoy reading it.
Yes, I had fun writing it. Thank you all again for your support...)